Alice, a young Mohawk woman, seems to have everything she ever wanted. She has moved from the reservation to a posh neighborhood in Toronto with the anthropologist husband, Steve, who studies the Mohawk culture. She has a new daughter, Dawn. However, things are not perfect. She struggles to connect with Dawn. Partly this may be do to the guilt she feels toward her own recently deceased mother. The neighbors are not openly friendly, in fact some are racist. She is also experiencing disorienting situations. She’s hearing voices and connecting with Pocahontas, who started coming to her as a teenager.
As Alice descends into madness, she holds to her desire to write the creation myth of Sky Woman as told to her as a child. As her madness deepens she believes she has found a portal to another time and world. In this world, she talks to her granddaughter.
I found the first half of the book very interesting and somewhat horrifying as Alice descends into madness. It was well written. I couldn’t help rooting for Alice as she faced passive aggressive behavior from racist neighbors. However, the last portion of the book was a jolt. The scifi section where she talks to her granddaughter didn’t work for me. It seemed too abrupt a change. However, I enjoyed the book. It gave an interesting glimpse of the Mohawk culture and an indigenous woman trying to integrate into a different world.
Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for this review copy.
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